Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 38 (3) 2010

Annotation:  Three Scenarios of the Middle to Upper Paleolithic Transition. Scenario 1: The Middle to Upper Paleo Chronology and Periodization of Upper Paleolithic Sites in Mongolia Projectile Points and their Implications The “Malta Realism”: On Interpreting Siberian Anthropomorphic Figurines from the Upper Paleolithic Private Collection of Seima-Turbino Bronzes from the Irtysh: The Tragedy of a Unique Site Destroyed Sargat Burial Sites in the Middle Irtysh Area: A Gender Analysis The Archaeological and Geophysical Study of Defense Works Yenisei Kyrgyz “Forts” in the Russian Reports of the 17th Century and the Archaeological Reality The Wusun in Northeastern Central Asia Eighteenth Century Trends in the Development of Buryat Clothing Field Trip by B.N. Gorodkov and G.M. Dmitirev-Sadovnikov to the Vakh River Valley in 1913 A Comparison of the Medieval and Modern Populations of the Novgorod Region, Based on Facial Reconst The Origin of the Late Medieval Population of the Novgorod Republic (13th–16th Centuries), Based on   

Projectile Points and their Implications

H.W. Lee.

This paper considers interpersonal human violence during the Upper Paleolithic and the subsequent transitional period between the Paleolithic and Neolithic by examining lithic variation against the related theoretical background. The human mind’s evolutionary capacity for violence was well in place during this period, so changes in violence at the time were not infl uenced by cognitive evolution. However, the cultural learning process related to increased social complexity directly affected human behavior during this short-term transition. Increased interpersonal contact translated not only into positive effects such as sharing food and strategic resources procurement, but also into negative effects such as intensifi ed confl icts and greater violence. The pattern of violence during the transition period is refl ected in evidence from projectile points.

Keywords: Projectile points, violence, Upper Paleolithic, Neolithic, transitional period.